“The most important concept in understanding how MP3
encoders work is the trade-off that exists between sound quality on
the one hand and bit rate and file size on the other. When you
create an MP3 file, you have an option of specifying something
called a bit rate — effectively how much you want to compress the
audio stream. The higher the bit rate, the larger your MP3
output file is and the better your sound quality will be (and the
longer it will take to encode the file). Typically, acceptable
audio quality can be achieved with a 128-160 Kbps bit rate for
stereo music on a basic PC-powered speaker/16-bit soundcard
setup.”
“If you have a more sophisticated sound card and speaker
configuration (such as Creative’s SoundBlaster Live! using digital
SPIDIF output with the Creative FPS2000 4-speaker/subwoofer
combination) or are piping the audio output to a home stereo
receiver, then you’ll want to encode your files at a higher rate,
anywhere from 256Kbps to 320 Kbps, which will deliver true
CD-quality music.”
“If you’re going to take up encoding MP3s as a serious hobby,
you’ll want to invest in a fast CD-ROM drive with fast DAE or
“ripping” capabilities, like my trusty Plextor UltraPlex 40Max
SCSI-2 reader that can do DAE at 24x speed. There’s a great page on
the DAE benchmarks for many CD-ROM drives at the CD Speed home
page, in case you’re wondering which CD reader to purchase. At the
time of this writing, the fastest CD-ROM read-er on the planet was
Kenwood’s True-X 72X ATAPI drive ($120.00 street price), which was
benchmarked at 46.1X speed for DAE.”